Have Ad Firms Gone Too Far? / 2 commercials by local agencies pulled for being extreme

Julia Angwin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Wednesday, October 16, 1996

San Francisco advertising agencies are known for edgy advertising, but lately some ads have been going over the edge.

Two local advertising agencies have had their commercials pulled off the air in the past week.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners had to cancel a commercial showing a man running into a burning house to retrieve a pair of Haggar slacks because firefighters complained that it promoted a dangerous activity.

And Levi Strauss & Co. canceled a 501 jeans ad created by Foote Cone & Belding in San Francisco that depicted a scorned woman using voodoo to get revenge on her boyfriend because some feared it promoted racial stereotypyes.

When to Book Your Ticket to This Fall's Top Travel Destinations for MillennialsMedia: Buzz 60

How Teachers Really Feel About The First Day Back to SchoolMedia: Buzz 60

Your Parents Never Had to Deal With These Etiquette QuestionsMedia: Buzz 60

Man Says He Was Fired From British Airways Due to His 'Man Bun'Media: Buzz 60

The Best Cities in America for Raising a FamilyMedia: Buzz 60

Apple Is Now Worth $1 TrillionMedia: Fortune

As it gets harder to break through the advertising clutter, ad agencies in San Francisco and beyond are going to greater extremes to grab consumers' attention.

"It's a hard call because if your advertising offends no one, its probably being noticed by no one," said Tom Bedecarre, chairman of ad agency Citron Haligman Bedecarre in San Francisco.

"The way you get noticed is to do something different or unusual," he said. "And as soon as you start doing that, you're going to push somebody's button."

Haggar Clothing Co. pushed firefighters' buttons with its spot about a man racing into a burning building to save a pair of pants. Firefighters complained that the vivid imagery might encourage children to walk into a fire.

"If somebody attempted to re-enter a building burning like that one in the commercial, they would most certainly die within 10 feet of the door," said Michael Shafer, chief of the Gloversville, N.Y., Fire Department.

Shafer faxed a letter of complaint to the Dallas pants manufacturer, and the ad was pulled after less than a week on the air.

The voodoo ad did not even reach the airwaves before it was nixed by Levi's executives. Set to debut this week, the 90-second commercial showed a woman seeking revenge against her cheating boyfriend.

She gets a voodoo doll from a black priestess and starts sticking pins in the doll in an attempt to hurt her ex-lover. When she pierces the doll in the crotch with a needle, the boyfriend is saved by the steel buttons on his Levi's.

The tag line: "An ounce of steel where it counts."

Levi's executives reportedly rejected the ad as being potentially offensive to black consumers. But one insider criticized the apparel maker's lack of guts.

"It's not nearly as explosive as they would have you believe, and in fact the commercials that have traditionally run in Europe are at least as edgy," said someone involved with the commercial.

Levi's won a Clio Award this year for a TV commercial that ran in Europe showing the watch pocket in its jeans as a place to stash condoms.

But advertising executives say a mass marketer like Levi's can't afford to offend anyone -- while a niche marketer may have more leeway.

"The category can really define what's controversial and what's not controversial," said John Geoghegan, director of client services at J. Walter Thompson in San Francisco.

For example, Sharper Image just introduced a magazine ad featuring its "Amazing Moonlight Nightscope," which lets you "See Through Total Darkness." The ad -- also by Goodby, Silverstein-- shows a grainy picture of two naked people in the dark locked in a passionate embrace behind a window.

Privacy advocates say the advertisement, which seems to target Peeping Toms, is treading in a gray area of the law. It's not illegal to spy on people unless you're also trespassing. But it might violate the constitutional right to privacy in California, said Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times in Washington D.C.

Either way, "Sharper Image is trying to cash in on voyeurism," said Hendricks.